AIBU to think that £35 an hour is a lot for a cleaner

[Mamamia2020]

My elderly parents are moving house. My Mum has recently been in hospital with pneumonia. She is the sort of person who in the past when moving house would have all carpets cleaned and scrubbed the bathroom with a toothbrush. The thought of moving out and not doing this is abhorrent to her. Her home is immaculate.

Anyway, she is panicking about moving day and wanted a cleaner for the move day as she has been under the weather. It literally just needs someone to whip around with a hoover because as furniture is moved there will be dust behind etc. My Dad said he would do it but she says she wants a 'professional'. My Dad will scrub the bathroom and insides of the kitchen cupboards the day before but we wanted someone just to do a last-minute wipe down. Someone is already coming in to clean the hob and oven two days beforehand.

I contacted a cleaner and explained that I just wanted to book 4 hours, one-off, to hoover through, mop the kitchen floor, clean the bath and toilet, and a final wipe down of the cupboards. I said the property would be empty from 2pm and would probably take 2 hours but would pay for 4. I stressed it is not a full-on 'end of tenancy clean required' just a final whip-round. They are moving 2 hours away and wanted to get off as soon as the van is loaded before it gets dark. She originally quoted £20 an hour which I said was great and I said that I would confirm with them then arrange payment to book the slot. When I came back to her, she asked for photos of the property which I thought was odd as we'd already agreed on a price.I sent them to her from Rightmove and she then changed her mind and said it would be £140 for the four hours. Is it just me that things this is really OTT? I emphasized that it wasn't an end of tenancy clean but she still kept saying to me that I would never get someone to do an 'end of tenancy clean' for £20 an hour. I stressed (again) that I don't need that - just a hoover around, a quick wipe down of the bath, toilets and wipe down the insides of kitchen cupboards (that would already have been cleaned).

I live abroad otherwise I would do it for them, it would take me 2 hour tops.

AIBU to think that £35 an hour is OTT? She said it was also because it was out of hours but only because she couldn't come at 2pm and would have to delay it until 4.30 pm

YABU and therefore I need to start my own cleaning company and earn £35 an hour.

Yeah, that's a lot £10-12 ph in my experience, and that's in London.

She's seen the Rightmove pics and got dollar signs in her eyes thinking she'll make a mint off the loaded folk.

Find someone else.

Bin her off for her brass neck alone. Exploiting your poor elderly parents, shame on her. Get someone else in.

@Gwenhwyfar

I'm surprised you think it only takes 2 hours to clean a whole house. It takes me at least that for a small flat.

A completely empty flat with no furniture or other possessions?

That’s loads. Mine is 16/hour.

£10-15 per hour is the norm here

A cleaner in London is only £13. She's OTT. X

We pay the cleaner £35 for three hours and she brings her own kit and products. As an hourly rate, £35 is too much.

@Echobelly

Yeah, that's a lot £10-12 ph in my experience, and that's in London.

£10 ph for travel, products, tax and holidays? That wouldn't even be min wage, or even someone that maybe wasn't declaring the money paid.

Hi Op Wow our moms house is just gorgeous, would appreciate tips how your mother manages to keep her place so clutter free and looking like a home out of aspirational home lifestyle magazine?

I think that cleaner when she saw photos of your mothers place sensed money and thinks she can charge according,😡 the nerve of some people...

I don't live that far away from there and will happily do it for the original £20 per hour if free that day. I don't work as a cleaner but will do a good job!

Also although its high could also be that she doesn't think 2 hrs is enough to so throughly
You might think only needs where furniture has been and maybe so but she may be planning to do every room top to bottom , which would be more than 2 hrs as all door frames , skirtings , windowsils , curtain poles wtc

I think she’s charging you more because she thinks you have money, because the house is too nice. Happens to my gran all the time but she’s actually cash poor.

Going rate here seems to be £11 -£17 depending in if self employed or company or if they supply products etc

She is trying it on, from looking at your photos, she has thought kerching! I’m charging more. Good luck on getting a descent quote.

I run a cleaning business in Bucks.. we charge £20 for end of tenancy/one off cleans.. seems way over the top to me

Going rate is around £15 an hour, if rural expect travel time to be added

I agree that you tell your folks you have arranged the clean if it will set your mums mind at rest and then don’t bother. I have never moved into a spotless home, it would be a wonderful surprise but not an expectation. Many people would almost certainly want to sweep/hoover again anyway given that their furniture and boxes and footfall moving will cause a fair bit of mess even if the house was originally spotless and with covid would likely wipe everything down to sanitise. Seriously, not worth bothering.

@matchingsocks

Well for comparison an NHS senior ward sister/manager earns less than £20 per hour where I work.

Sure. But she is employed. She also gets sick pay, holiday pay, employer's NI, job security, doesn't have to invoice for her time, chase up people for payment, advertise her services, buy equipment, travel all around at her own expense, negotiate each contract, deal with enquiries that never become jobs, etc.

I'm not saying ward sisters aren't underpaid, just that even at 35/hour the cleaner probably won't be getting anything like the equivalent of a 20/hr salaried position.

YANBU. I’m in London and our cleaner charges £50 for 4 hours every fortnight.

[quote Mamamia2020]@Gwenhwyfar
I've got a 5 bedroom house overseas that I clean top to bottom in two hours and it is a dusty country on the edge of the desert. Their house is a quarter of the size and I can hoover thoroughly in 45 minutes. Bathroom done in 30 minutes. Easy. I can't do it for them though as i live 3000 miles away.[/quote]
It's physically impossible to clean a 5 bed house in 2 hours to even the most modest of standards.

@othering
I'm not talking dustings cupboards in a furnished house but basically what I am asking the cleaner to do in my parent's house. Clean the floors, which where I live is a hoover, then a mop and bucket job and cleaning the bathrooms. I can do that in 2 hours and do it regularly. My parent's house is a quarter of the size and just needs a hoover etc. I've done it myself there and 4 hours would be plenty and they wouldn't need to go quickly to get it done either.

I am in the wrong job.

Crackers - either find a cheaper quote or go with leaving them £50 for a takeaway, I get the pride thing but the place is so clean.

[quote Mamamia2020]@othering
I'm not talking dustings cupboards in a furnished house but basically what I am asking the cleaner to do in my parent's house. Clean the floors, which where I live is a hoover, then a mop and bucket job and cleaning the bathrooms. I can do that in 2 hours and do it regularly. My parent's house is a quarter of the size and just needs a hoover etc. I've done it myself there and 4 hours would be plenty and they wouldn't need to go quickly to get it done either.[/quote]
Well, yes, of course you can do that but that isn't what you said. You said you can clean a 5 bed house from top to toe in 2 hours, which is the comment I challenged. Top to toe doesn't suggest a quick run round with a hoover and a mop, plus a couple of bathrooms.